What do you do when you first hear the strong possibility that everything you knew from the time you were born until you were 18 and headed off to college was just washed away? Simple, you find a place to rant for a bit. You do whatever it takes to help you remember the important things, your family is safe and that means they can rebuild. But what about the memories? Not the ones stored in your head but the ones on paper. The things you realize you can never replace and will be lost forever. What about those? I'm still a little numb from it all... a part of my mind still rejecting what I've heard and seen... Still saying that although every other house may have been destroyed my parents' house stands in the midst of it all, unscathed... but even I cannot let myself think of this as truth. I only hope that when the peoplle of New Orleans, and St. Bernard Parish and Kenner and Biloxi and all the others who have had their lives washed away by Katrina are as lucky as I. Lucky enough that their family is safe and can begin the process of rebuilding. For rebuild they will... And they will remain until yet another disaster occurs. Why? Are they stupid? Stubborn? Or do they love their homes, their cities, what their children to have the same experiences they had when growing up. Forgetting the hurricanes, the flooding, the massive destruction. They just want their kids to experience the beauty that the New Orleans area can truly be... if only you open your eyes beyond the degradation.... the filth and see the culture... the heritage... things that no hurricane no matter how strong will EVER take away from us. For the first time, in many, many years I can stand proudly as a native of the New Orleans area!